Nott Your Boyfriend | A Slytherin/Hufflepuff Romance

Chapter 26: Daphne Greengrass Is Back (With A Vengeance?)

"Did you read my book?" Hannah Abbott asked Susan Bones while they were busy unpacking.

"Yes!" Susan replied and she rummaged in her trunk until she found the merman romance book. She handed it back to her friend.

"What did you think of it?" Hannah asked her while she placed the book on her bedside table.

"It was good! I mean, that tail scene!"

"I know right!" Hannah beamed.

"I bought the werewolf one immediately after finishing it and devoured that one in a day."

"What did you think of that one?"

"I liked it even more!" Susan giggled excitedly.

"You did?" Hannah replied, sounding a bit surprised. "I thought that last sex scene was a bit exaggerated, wasn't it?"

"Maybe," Susan mused. "I still liked it though."

"I guess everyone has different tastes," Hannah said. "The merman one is still my favorite," she sighed, clearly thinking of a particular scene from that book. "Anyways," she added in a much more serious tone while sitting down on her bed. "What's up with Theodore?"

Susan stiffened. She knew her best friend had a tendency to cut to the chase, but she had hoped to pretend for a few more minutes that everything was fine.

She sighed and also sat down on her bed. Unpacking the rest of her trunk could wait. "I don't really know how to say this since I don't really get myself what's going on," she started. "Everything was great between us. I love Theo so much. He's so sweet and we have so much fun together and he has made me feel so cared for. But ...," Here she paused for a second, not knowing how to formulate her next words. "Theodore is a bit weird when it comes to sex."

Susan twisted a strand of her hair around her finger, nervously waiting for her friend to respond.

"What do you mean with weird?" Hannah asked her. "Does he have a kink?"

"No," Susan said quickly. "Not at all!" For some reason she felt like she had to defend Theodore from Hannah's dirty thoughts. That painting from the National Gallery popped up in her head for a second. Now she was that guy in the middle and Theodore was the globe he was holding. "He cried when I touched him down there," Susan said shifting uncomfortably on the bed. "It's like he finds everything sex-related disgusting." She decided to not tell Hannah the details of New Year's Eve. That was too private.

Hannah thought about her words, her mouth moving around like she was twirling the words around to taste them.

"Maybe something happened to him," she finally said. "Like something traumatizing," she then clarified when Susan looked at her uncomprehendingly.

Susan had to think about that. It could be an explanation for Theodore's behavior. But it also didn't really make sense, because he had told her how he had never done anything with anyone.

"Have you talked to him about it?" Hannah interrupted her thoughts.

Susan shifted again on the bed. "We did talk the time he cried. He said that it had been too fast for him. I then decided to let him make the first move, so I wouldn't cross any of his boundaries. But then nothing happened." She desperately wanted to continue her story and tell her friend everything but the next few words she wanted to utter made her choke up.

Hannah got up, moved over to Susan's bed and wrapped an arm around her shoulder. "I don't think he finds me attractive," Susan stammered.

"Oh Susan, I'm sure he does," her friend tried to comfort her. "I see the way he looks at you. He loves you."